


Tuesdays

by jezebel



Category: Queer as Folk (UK)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-15
Updated: 2011-03-15
Packaged: 2017-10-17 00:30:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/171006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jezebel/pseuds/jezebel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some people say Mondays are the worst day of the week, but they obviously don't know about Tuesdays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tuesdays

**Author's Note:**

> AU after Series 1
> 
> Story contains coercion/dub-con that some readers may find disturbing.

Tuesday.

The one night of the week that Stuart didn't come out anymore and Vince had no idea why.

After Cameron and Vince had broken up there were a few heavenly weeks when there was no sniping and no arguments just the two of them as they had always been and Vince felt as if life had never been better. They would spend Friday and Saturday nights partying, and Stuart would take home a shag, but come Sunday morning Stuart was all his. On Sundays Vince accompanied his friend to Romey and Lisa's and they would take Alfie out together as if they were a couple.

Until two weeks ago when Stuart had called him late on Friday night and cried off from going out with the complaint of having a conference call early on Saturday morning. If Vince hadn't already had a few drinks inside him he would have realised that Stuart never worked on Saturdays. Sandra knew better than that. By the time Vince had risen late on Saturday afternoon (thanks to a rare day off and an even rarer shag) it had not seemed important that Stuart had lied to him and Vince didn't think any more of it, at least not until he realised that it was Tuesday and he had not seen Stuart out for the whole weekend.

When Vince started to think about Stuart's absence it worried him. There was no answer on his cell and Sandra hadn't heard from him on Monday. Vince was about to call the police when he tipped up on Wednesday with a smile and some excuse about a last minute trip down to London to meet with a client.

Vince was ready to write it off as just another one of Stuart's inconsiderate actions until after two weeks when he noticed a pattern.

Now it had been six weeks. Six Tuesdays that Stuart had not come out and Vince's mind was supplying him with a dozen different possible reasons for why Stuart was not coming out. From a new obsession with watching CSI (which Vince realised was probably not true given that Stuart had Sky plus even though he didn't watch much TV) to some rare hospital treatment that meant Stuart needed to stay in once a week. None of them seemed to be the real answer and Vince couldn't work out how he could ask Stuart so he decided that there was only one answer.

That was how he ended up here, standing outside Stuart's flat like some sad stalker and trying to figure out a plausible reason to go up and see why his friend didn't like Tuesdays anymore.

***

Vince was not sure why Stuart had given him back his keys after the fateful birthday party but things had been going well and he supposed that Phil's death had affected his best friend more than he realised. They came in handy for Vince's snooping that Tuesday as he let himself into Stuart's loft flat and made his way through the dark flat into the lounge.

There was a slight creak of floorboards and Vince froze as he wondered if he was overreacting and his friend was just spending a night at home, but that was not like Stuart, and after a moment Vince chided himself for thinking that. It was too many weeks now for this to be a mere coincidence.

"I still can't believe you punched him." Vince heard a familiar voice say as keys turned in the door. This was followed by a laugh and a click as the door opened.

"He was annoying me." Stuart replied with a slight laugh as he finally opened the door and led the other man inside.

Vince hid himself in the bathroom and prayed that Stuart would move to the bedroom quickly. He wondered if Stuart was cruising elsewhere these days and then he saw the reflection of Stuart's shag in the mirror.

Vince hadn't even known that Nathan Maloney had returned from London, he had thought that the chicken was out of both of their lives but he had certainly not expected to see him laughing and joking with Stuart as if they were best friends. He thought that Stuart didn't care about the lad, but it appeared that they had built up an easy friendship and Vince could not help but feel jealous that Stuart was sharing with someone else what had always been his domain.

"Drink?" Stuart asked.

"Beer, please."

"Only one." Stuart said as he tossed Nathan a bottle. Stuart probably had glasses somewhere but he didn't generally use them. "You've got college in the morning."

"I wish I hadn't told you now." Nathan groused. "You're worse than my bloody mother.

"Oi! Don't be cheeky about your elders." Stuart replied. "Besides, haven't you heard? I prefer an educated shag."

"Didn't seem to stop you last time." Nathan retorted.

"And look where it got me," Stuart complained. "You shot off in two minutes flat and left me with a raging hard on."

"Can't have been that bad, you came back for more."

"Cheeky." Stuart replied.

There was a brief scuffle and then the sound of wet kissing that brought Vince out of his hiding place to see that Stuart was kissing Nathan, one hand buried in the blonde hair and the other groping for his arse. Nathan had one hand in Stuart's hair and the other was desperately trying to grip onto his bottle of beer.

Vince was aghast. Stuart never had a shag more than once, Nathan had been a blip on the otherwise unblemished record, but now it seemed as if Stuart was having him a third time around.

Nathan moved towards the counter to put his beer down and allowed his other hand to wander to the hem of Stuart's shirt. He moved so that he was kissing down Stuart's neck and sucked a little too hard. Stuart pulled him away by his hair and looked down at Nathan.

"No marks." Stuart said. "You're not my boyfriend."

Nathan looked down slightly and then nodded. He was about to kiss Stuart again when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and Vince could not move fast enough.

"This is a surprise." Nathan said, a cheeky grin covering his face. "I didn't know that you were thinking of a threesome."

"Vince doesn't do threesomes." Stuart said, his face turning into a frown when he saw his best friend. "Vince doesn't do anything exciting. He doesn't want a shag, he wants a wife!"

"I came round to give you that tenner..." Vince said, searching through his wallet and looking for an excuse for being there. "Didn't think you were in."

"I wasn't." Stuart replied plainly. "Nathan and I had a date."

"It wasn't a date..." Nathan interjected, trying to lessen the blow to Vince, "not really. I mean, we're not dating."

"Obviously." Vince replied. "Stuart Alan Jones doesn’t do boyfriends."

"That's what you think." Stuart replied. "Nathan and I have been seeing each other."

"It's nothing." Nathan added.

"That's not what you said last week." Stuart said. Vince took one look at the smug smile on Stuart's face and tried to leave but Stuart was not done. "Nathan and I have been getting together regularly. Been fucking. You'd like Nathan, he's a brilliant shag, one of the best I've had."

"Don't." Nathan said softly, seeing the pained look on Vince's face.

Stuart sneered at Vince and watched as his friend tried to retreat further into himself.

"Go on then, fuck off."

Vince didn't say anything else and walked out of the door.

"Why did you do that?" Nathan asked after Vince had gone. "He didn't need to see that. He didn't need to know."

"I would have thought you would want to tell the world about us." Stuart replied. "You've probably already told half of Canal Street that you're my boyfriend, even though you're not."

"Why would I do that?" Nathan asked. "Who on earth would want to shag you?"

"You haven't been complaining recently." Stuart replied.

"Yeah, well...I'm a twat!" Nathan said before leaving.

Stuart stared open-mouthed at the door as he watched the young blonde walk out on him without the shag.

Nathan always wanted to fuck and Stuart had explained to him early on that they were not getting any emotions involved. Sex was sex and love was love and Stuart didn't have any time for the latter. He had thought that Nathan understood that. Maybe he was better off. Fuck them! Stuart didn't need anyone.

***

***

Vince sat alone on his couch, bottle of vodka held limply in his hands, as onscreen the doctor fought a battle with the Cybermen. He knew it was a bad idea going to Stuart's flat, had known that he would find something that he didn't want to see but the last thing that he had expected was to find Nathan Maloney there.

"It's just sex." A voice told him, and for a moment Vince thought he was hallucinating. Maybe he had died of alcohol poisoning and he was in hell. Vince looked up and saw that it was true.

"You really ought to get that door fixed." Nathan said, trying to ease Vince's pain with a joke.

It didn't work.

"What do you want Nathan?" Vince asked. "I would have thought it was past your bedtime."

"It doesn't mean anything." Nathan continued. Vince wanted to change the subject, the last thing that he needed was to hear the sordid details of their affair. "You know that Stuart has never had a boyfriend, it was just sex between us."

"It's always 'just sex' with Stuart."

"I know." Nathan replied.

"Can I sit down?" He asked after a few more minutes.

"What's the point?"

"I need to talk to you." Nathan said. "I didn't want this to hurt you."

"It doesn't matter to me what Stuart does."

"You're lying." Nathan replied. "But that's okay, because it's not like I didn't already know that you love him. I reckon that I love him a bit too, but it'll never work between us, it's not the same."

"Is this where you tell me what a sad bastard I am for not realising that years ago? " Vince asked. "Don't you think I don't know that Stuart is never going to shag me."

"He's scared."

"Stuart isn't scared of anything."

"He's scared of commitment."

Vince raised an eyebrow and looked at Nathan as if he had two heads.

"What?" Nathan asked. "Just because I'm young, doesn't mean that I don't see things." Vince didn't say anything and Nathan continued. "Fine! Mum has us in family counselling because she thinks that we need to talk more and my therapist makes a lot of sense."

Vince smiled.

"You think a few sessions on the doctor's couch make you qualified to understand Stuart?" Vince asked, knowing that his best friend was much more complex than that. He prided himself on being one of the only people that understood Stuart completely. Despite being blindsided by Stuart's return to Nathan he was still one of the select few that knew the real Stuart Jones.

"No, I think that it's given me enough insight to read the pair of you." Nathan said. "Stuart is scared of commitment and so are you."

"I've had boyfriends."

"Yeah, but the way Stuart and Hazel tell it you've never had one that has lasted longer than a few weeks. Once they start to talk about settling down or even staying over more than two nights a week you run like the wind."

"That's not true." Vince defended weakly but he knew it was true. All of his boyfriends had ended either because he had gotten cold feet or because they had not measured up to the impossible Jones yardstick.

"At least you can commit beyond one date." Nathan allowed. "Stuart can't even do that."

"Until you." Vince said self-deprecatingly.

"Stuart isn't committed to me." Nathan laughed. "I'm lucky if he lets the cum cool on my skin before he's throwing me out the door."

"But he fucked you more than once."

"Stuart told me that I remind him of you." Nathan said. "That's the only reason he let me back into his bed. He gets something from me that you're not willing to give."

"I think I'm insulted."

"I'm young, fifteen, that's currency. Stuart remembers when you were both that young and all he wanted was you. He regrets not finishing that wank."

"Fuck off." Vince said, not believing Nathan for a minute.

"If he doesn't want you then why does he scream your name when he comes?"

Vince looked at Nathan with a shocked awe before realisation dawned on him. This was just part of Stuart's sick joke to get back at him for spying on them.

"Very funny Nathan, you almost had me going for a minute there."

Nathan stood and for a second Vince knew that he had been right, then Nathan threw down a tape on the coffee table and spoke.

"If you don't believe me then watch the tape."

"I don't have any interest in kiddie porn, Nate." Vince replied.

"It's not me on the tape." Nathan replied. "It's one from Stuart's collection. He has quite a range."

"I know." Vince replied. "I copied half of them for him."

"Not these. This is from his private stash."

"Stuart doesn't have a..."

"Just watch the tape." Nathan said. "And then tell me that he doesn't want you."

***

***

When Vince woke later that night he thought that his entire evening had been a dream. The television showed nothing but fuzz and Vince thought for a moment that it had just been another uneventful evening in front of the television with the Doctor, at least until he saw the video on the table with the post it note.

"WATCH ME"

Vince's encounter with Nathan came to the forefront of his mind and for a moment he considered uncoiling the tape and sending it back to Nathan to show him exactly what he thought of little Nathan's idea. Then he decided that it might be fun to see just what had made the chicken think that after sixteen years Stuart suddenly wanted him.

Picking up the tape thoughtfully Vince was surprised to see that it was a cassette from a video camera and not one of the copies of porn that he had made for Stuart. Intrigued at the idea of Stuart's home videos, and slightly turned on to think that it may show one of the adventures that Stuart had described to him, Vince popped the tape into the video. It fuzzed slightly, a blurry picture appeared and then slowly a familiar figure came into focus.

%%%

"You owe me for this, Jones." Mickey Blake said as his face appeared on the screen, the video camera moved around a familiar flat and then a bed came into the picture as Mickey secreted the camera.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Mickey called, "It's open."

Vince appeared at the door and paused a moment in the doorway before entering.

"You got it?" Vince asked, sounding slightly uneasy.

"Of course I did." Mickey said. "You know that I can get anything."

"And the price?"

"The usual." Mickey said, a feral grin appearing on his face.

Vince visibly tensed as Mickey took a step closer to him and his hand reached up to Vince's face. Mickey pulled closer and stroked a hand down Vince's stubbled cheek.

"It's okay." Mickey said, calming Vince. "It's nothing new."

"I know." Vince said softly.

"I love being with you, baby." Mickey said as he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Vince's mouth. "You know that we don't have to do anything that you don't want to do."

"I know." Vince said. "It's just..."

"Stuart." Mickey said, pulling away with a sigh. "It's always about Stuart."

"I don't want to talk about that, let's just get this done."

"You're so romantic." Mickey joked, the smile taking the pain from his words.

"Fuck off." Vince said with a laugh.

Mickey pulled Vince towards him again, teasing him with small kisses as he unbuttoned Vince's shirt. He slowly moved his kisses down Vince's chest till he got to his waist and then he unbuckled Vince's belt and pushed down his trousers and underwear. Blowing softly on Vince's cock he made him shiver slightly before wrapping his lips around Vince's length.

Vince let out a soft sigh as he enjoyed himself, his eyes closing as his mind wandered and he thought about the man that he really wanted between his legs.

Mickey was a champion cocksucker and loved nothing more than taking another man in his mouth, he loved to swallow their cum but in the current climate it was not safe unless you were with people that you knew were safe and so Vince often found himself on the end of one of Mickey's blow jobs. It was part of the price of all the things that Mickey Blake could get for him.

%%%

On screen Vince moaned as the Vince who was watching himself on tape realised why this was so often a part of Mickey's price. It was not just that Mickey Blake enjoyed being with him but he was also supplying tapes to Stuart. Vince found himself wondering how often his friend had watched this, and if he had ever wanked to it. The thought made Vince so hard that he wanted to come but he couldn't bring himself to do it to the images on the screen.

Pausing the tape Vince closed his eyes and thought back to that trip to Mickey's the images he had thought of then came back to his mind as he conjured an image of Stuart and reached down to finish himself off.

After his climax Vince felt far too confused to do anything else but go back to sleep.

He hoped that the morning would bring him the answers that he needed.

***

***

Vince had gone through his Wednesday shift on autopilot, thankfully it was a quiet day and he didn't have to think too much about his job, his mind was still firmly rooted in the events of the previous night.

Despite hopes that the morning light would bring some clarity to what he had seen Vince was now more confused than ever. He wanted to know the truth, he wanted to know why Stuart had tapes of him and if what Nathan had said was really true, but he couldn't go to Stuart.

Vince decided a plan of action while rearranging tomatoes for the Produce Manager.

Just because he didn't want to speak to Stuart it didn't mean that he couldn't get an answer. Mickey Blake would usually supply him with anything and he hoped that there was not too high a price on getting the truth.

***

Mickey Blake ran his business out of a flat above a sex shop off Canal Street. He would usually be there during the day but when Vince had called and asked him to meet him at his apartment, in the next block over from Stuart's, Mickey had been only too happy to agree.

Vince greeted his friend with a kiss to the cheek and Mickey was glad that he had shut up shop early to meet with Vince.

"I need a favour." Vince said.

"Name it." Mickey replied with a small smile.

"Can we go inside?" Vince asked, chewing on his lip nervously and making Mickey harder than he already was at the thought of just what Vince might want.

"Sure."

Vince followed the dealer inside and smiled as he saw the tattered boxes in one side of the lobby. Mickey had been a wheeler-dealer since he left school at fifteen - but he had come into his own in the last few years when along with the shadier side of his business he had started selling things on E-bay. In a few short years he had gone from living above the sex shop to running his own office and owning a loft apartment on par with Stuart's. Vince knew that if he were not in love with Stuart then all of that could have been his. It would have been easy for Vince to fall for Mickey and he knew that the other man was game but as with any other affair that Vince had wanted to start over the last sixteen years Stuart Alan Jones always got in the way.

"Now, what can I do for you?" Mickey asked. "It's been a while since you called. Did you want some E or can I interest you in something a little more exotic?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something." Vince said.

"Course." Mickey replied, not sure what it was that Vince was going to ask.

"Remember that night that you got me episode three of Planet of the Daleks in colour?"

"I don't think I could ever forget that night." He answered lasciviously. "Did you want a repeat?"

"Thanks, but I think that night will forever be burned into my retinas." Vince said, Mickey smiled but Vince didn't share the joke. His face was solemn. "I saw the tape."

"I should bloody well hope so the trouble I went through to get it."

Vince frowned then shook his head.

"No, not the Daleks tape. The tape of that night that you made for Stuart."

"What tape?" Mickey asked, but Vince knew enough about his friend to know that he was bullshitting.

"The one where you told him he owed you."

"I don't know..."

"Oh, Fuck off." Vince said. "I know, okay. What I want to know is why?"

"I told you before that I can get anything, for a price."

"And I thought I paid you."

"Oh, you did." Mickey said. "But that doesn't mean I was going to pass up what Stuart was offering. £1000 he paid me. Just for a five minute tape."

"Is that the only one?"

Mickey's face fell slightly as he realised that this was probably the last time that he would see Vince. It had seemed harmless at the time but now he realised that it had been wrong.

"No."

"How many?"

"Six, maybe seven." Mickey replied.

"And are they the only copies?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I've heard rumours that Stuart has others, but I don't know if it's true, you know what this street is like."

"I can't fucking believe this." Vince said, his voice waivering slightly though he wasn't sure if it was fear or anger or a mixture of both.

"Vince..."

"Don't bother." Vince said, as he turned to leave.

Mickey watched Vince walk out and knew that no matter what he would never see him again. If Vince didn't stay away then Stuart would make sure that Mickey did.

***

***

Stuart's day had gone from bad to worse when he got into work, already cranky about the previous night, and found that Sandra was off sick. He'd spent the day fielding his own calls and hadn't managed to get any work done. The last thing that he needed was to get home and find his flat door open and things strewn across the floor.

Stuart pulled out his cell phone and started to dial the police, fearing a break in, when he saw Vince sitting in the middle of the floor with a pile of books and papers around him.

"Spring cleaning?" Stuart asked snarkily as he saw the chaos that his formerly happy home was in.

"Where are they?" Vince asked as he pulled out another section of Stuart's things and almost hit his best friend with a flying book.

"What's wrong with you?" Stuart asked, stepping towards his friend.

"The tapes." Vince insisted. "Where are they?"

"What tapes?" Stuart asked, his brow knitted in confusion.

"What was it Nathan called them? Your 'Private Stash'?"

"What have you been taking?" Stuart asked. "I thought you said that you wouldn't do drugs without me any more."

"Stop playing games, Stuart, I know." Vince shouted, standing to face his friend, his fists clenched in anger. "I spoke to Mickey Blake."

Realisation dawned on Stuart as he heard the drug dealer's name and he reached out a hand to still Vince only to find that he stepped away.

"Vince..." Stuart started, but he was interrupted by a strike to his face. The impact threw Stuart back and he faltered to regain his step.

"Don't you *fucking* dare try to apologise for this." Vince said. "I should have listened to Cameron. You're pathetic."

Stuart tried to reach out for Vince but was met with another fist. This time Vince aimed for his nose. The punch was hard and Stuart felt his feet slip out from under him and landed on his arse.

"It's all just sex with you isn't it?" Vince said. "He was right, this make-believe family is nothing but sex. And me, a sad bastard, because I don't even warrant that."

"It's not what you think..." Stuart said.

"You didn't pay Mickey Blake to make tapes of him fucking me? Sucking me off?" Vince asked rhetorically. "What do you do? Have a good laugh at them with all your shags. Look at poor little Vince, Stuart's pityful little acolyte, waiting for a shag that's never going to happen."

Stuart sat up, pressing his hand to his nose and looking surprised when it came away bloody.

"It's always got to be a spectacle with you, doesn't it?" Vince asked. "Couldn't you just have told me to Fuck off. Oh wait, sometimes Fuck Off isn't enough."

"Vince..."

"I'm not finished." Vince said. "All these years. You've been laughing at me behind my back all these years while I've been watching you shag anything that moves."

"I've been watching you too."

"Yeah, more closely than I thought." Vince replied severely. "Well, fuck it and fuck you."

Vince stepped over Stuart, walking towards the door, and Stuart knew that if he left his friend leave that he would never see him again. He had pushed the envelope before but this time he had torn it into little pieces and there was no hope for reconciliation, the best he could hope for was some damage limitation.

"I never laughed at you." Stuart said softly as he stood to follow Vince. "Not once."

"Yeah, right." Vince said, turning towards Stuart and raising his hands as if he was going to hit him again. Stuart knew Vince, he had taught him to fight, and grabbed his hands forcing him to look at Stuart.

"Yeah. Right." Stuart said adamantly. "I don't pity you, I'm in awe of you. I don't laugh at those tapes, I watch them to get off."

"So I'm good enough for a wank but not good enough for a shag."

"You're better than that, better than me." Stuart replied. "You've always deserved better than me."

"You know, other people have said that to me, they tell me that all the time, but this is the first time that I actually believed them."

Stuart felt his heart sink as he realised just how badly he had hurt Vince. Compared to this Vince's birthday had been a walk in the park. Stuart had no idea how to make this right.

"I love you."

"You don't know what love is." Vince spat back, fighting to get out of Stuart's grasp. He knew that if Stuart kept on that he was likely to relent, to lose his anger in the myriad of feelings that he had for his best friend, but he couldn't back down. Not now. Not this time.

"I didn't used to." Stuart said. "But you taught me, you and Hazel showed me what love is."

"Then you didn't learn it very well because Hazel would never do anything like this. She wouldn't ever hurt me." Vince said. "You remember that film Romey dragged you to see, the one where they said that love means never having to say you're sorry, what they really meant was love is never doing anything you have to say sorry for. I've given you more second chances than anyone else and now you tell me that I deserve more. Well, congratulations Stuart, we finally agree on something."

"Tell me how I can make this right." Stuart said, his head downcast as he felt resigned to Vince's ire. "I'm begging you to let me make this right."

Vince pulled away, using Stuart's dejection to get away.

"Tell me how I can make this right." Stuart repeated.

Vince took another few steps towards the door before leaving his parting shot.

"You can't."

***


End file.
